Managers in the Global Economy: A Multilevel Analysis

We examine individual‐ and country‐level determinants of managerial employment, using data from the 1989 to 2009 waves of the World Values and European Values Surveys (n = 89,336 employed adults in 59 countries). Reflecting the rise of the transnational capitalist class, we find that factors related to globalization and international political institutions are most strongly associated with opportunities to join the managerial class relative to factors related to the business‐cycle or development. Additionally, in a subset of countries with detailed occupational information, we find that global trade has a particularly strong, positive association with the odds of being a corporate manager in a large firm.     

Social closure,micro‐class immobility and the intergenerational reproduction of the upper class: a comparative study

This article assesses how processes of social closure enhance intergenerational immobility in the regulated professions and thus promote persistence at the top of the occupational hierarchy. We compare four European countries (GB, Germany, Denmark and Sweden) that differ considerably in their degree of professional regulation and in their broader institutional arrangements. We run log‐linear and logistic regression models on a cumulative dataset based on three large‐scale surveys with detailed and highly comparable information at the level of unit occupations. Our analyses indicate that children of licensed professionals are far more likely to inherit the occupation of their parents and that this stronger micro‐class immobility translates into higher chances of persistence in the upper class. These results support social closure theory and confirm the relevance of a micro‐class approach for the explanation of social fluidity and of its cross‐national variations. Moreover, we find that, when children of professionals do not reproduce the micro‐class of their parents, they still display disproportionate chances of persistence in professional employment. Hence, on the one hand, processes of social closure erect barriers between professions and fuel micro‐class immobility at the top. On the other hand, the cultural proximity of different professional groups drives intense intergenerational exchanges between them. Our analyses indicate that these micro‐ and meso‐class rigidities work as complementary routes to immobility at the top.     

Syntactic variation and beyond: Gender and social class variation in the use of discourse‐new markers1

The paper explores the relations between syntactic variation and the large‐scale social dimensions of gender and social class. It argues on the basis of an analysis of the marking of discourse‐new entities in interview speech that syntactic variants may frequently be involved in sociolinguistic variation, but indirectly, as just one of a broad set of choices that includes forms drawn from other components of language besides syntax. The analysis shows that although there is no sociolinguistic variation in the use of the strategies speakers use to mark discourse‐new information, there are significant social class and gender differences in the use of Noun Phrases that are not marked. Whilst acknowledging the risks of generalising on the basis of large‐scale social categories, an interpretation of these differences is suggested in relation to findings from previous research that suggest differences in the interactive style of different gender and social class groups. The paper discusses some implications of the analysis for the fields of language variation and change, and pragmatics.     

Social capital and social exclusion in England and Wales (1972-1999)

Recent research on social capital has explored trends in membership in voluntary organizations. However, there is currently little robust evidence on such trends in the UK since the 1970s, nor is there any analysis of whether participation bridges social divisions or accentuates them. This paper explores trends in participation in England and Wales since 1972 using data from the Social Mobility Inquiry of 1972 and the British Household Panel Survey of 1992 and 1999. We are concerned with social exclusion mechanisms in social capital generation in Britain over the three decades. Using binomial and multinomial models to 'unpack' the effects of socio-cultural factors on civic participation and on different types of associational membership, we test the thesis of across-the-board decline in social capital by Putnam (2000) and that of rising levels of middle-class social capital versus consistent low levels of working-class social capital by Hall (1999). The results show significant socio-cultural-gender differences, a relative stability of middle-class participation, and a rapid decline in the working-class access to social capital. We challenge the established accounts of both theses.     

Social mobility and demand for redistribution in Europe: a comparative analysis

The literature on preferences for redistribution has paid little attention to the effect of social mobility on the demand for redistribution and no systematic test of the hypotheses connecting social mobility and preferences for redistribution has yet been done to date. We use the diagonal reference model to estimate the effect of origin and destination classes on preferences for redistribution in a large sample of European countries using data from the European Social Survey. Our findings are consistent with the logic of acculturation in the sense that newcomers tend to adapt their views to those of the destination class at early stages and that upward and downward mobility do not have distinctive effects on the formation of political preferences. However, even though social origins seem to have a limited impact on preferences for redistribution, the evidence does not support the hypothesis that mobile and non‐mobile individuals are alike. We also find that the effect of social origin on preferences varies largely across countries. The empirical evidence leads to the conclusion that the effect of social origin on preferences for redistribution increases in contexts of strong familism.     

Operationalizing Max Weber's probability concept of class situation: the concept of social class

In this essay I take seriously Max Weber's astonishingly neglected claim that class situation may be defined, not in categorial terms, but probabilistically. I then apply this idea to another equally neglected claim made by Weber that the boundaries of social classes may be determined by the degree of social mobility within such classes. Taking these two ideas together I develop the idea of a non-categorial boundary 'surface' between classes and of a social class 'corridor' made up of all those people who are still to be found within the boundaries of the social class into which they were born. I call social mobility within a social class 'intra-class social mobility' and social mobility between classes 'inter-class social mobility'. I also claim that this distinction resolves the dispute between those sociologists who claim that late industrial societies are still highly class bound and those who think that this is no longer the case. Both schools are right I think, but one is referring to a high degree of intra-class social mobility and the other to an equally high degree of inter-class mobility. Finally I claim that this essay provides sociology with only one example among many other possible applications of how probability theory might usefully be used to overcome boundary problems generally in sociology.     

Representations of vulnerability,innocence and evil in the murder of a disabled person

Abstract

This article uses the murder of a young man with learning disabilities as a case study to comment on the representations used in the reporting of crime against disabled people. It uses social representations theory as a theoretical lens to assist us to see that portrayals of both victim and perpetrators by the media and others serves to distance them from each other, and from mainstream society. It highlights how this process of ‘othering’ serves to disadvantage disabled people and places a disproportionate emphasis on individual characteristics.     

Modernization, globalization and the welfare state: a comparative analysis of old and new convergence of social insurance since 1930

Convergence of policies and institutions across countries has been a recurrent theme within social sciences. 'Old' and 'new' convergence hypotheses have been associated with changing concepts and catchwords, such as modernization, logic of industrialism, post-industrialism, post-Fordism and globalization, but share some underlying theoretical perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to analyse tendencies towards convergence of social insurance systems in 18 OECD countries between 1930 and 1990, a period which has seen our sample of countries develop from predominantly agricultural societies to industrial or post-industrial market democracies. Data from the Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) are used to examine the development of institutional variables within the various national social insurance systems. Sub-samples of larger and smaller countries are examined separately, in order to test the open-economy hypothesis that smaller countries, being more exposed to international pressures than larger ones, could be expected to show higher degrees of social protection and also more convergence. Hypotheses on differentiated institutional barriers against pressures from the processes of transnationalization of the economy, as well as possible convergence effects of the supra-national policy making within the European Union, are discussed in the last section.     

Social stratification and attitudes: a comparative analysis of the effects of class and education in Europe

A classic topic in the sociology of inequality lies in the subjective consequences of people's stratification position. Many studies have shown that education and occupational class have significant effects on attitudes, but little is known about how the magnitude of these effects depends on the societal context. There has been debate in the scholarly literature, with some authors arguing that effects of class and education are less important when societies are more developed, whereas other authors argue that effects are either stable (for class) or increasing (for education). We use a meta-analytical design to address this debate. More specifically we examine the effects of class and education for a broad range of attitudes (21 scales) in 22 European countries using data from the 1999 wave of the European Values Study. We pool summary-measures of association (Eta-values) into a new dataset and analyse these Eta-values (N = 453) applying multilevel models with characteristics of countries and characteristics of attitudes as the independent variables. Our results show that there is no evidence that the effects of class on attitudes are lower when countries are more modern, but we do find larger effects of education in more modern countries.     

BSE as an organizational construction: a case study on the globalization of risk

This article examines the BSE problem as an example of the 'globalization of risk'. In order to determine whether the 'globalization of risk' is a social construction depending on the context, the paper emphasizes the particular role of organizations. It makes an empirical comparison of the BSE-related risk-constructions of five business associations in the German meat industry sector. The results show that the associations construct the risk in close relation to their horizons of globalization, thereby reflecting provision problems, which the companies they are representing face. While the main organizational domains in the sector tried to cope with the risk problem by different means of local market 'closure', one association, founded in reaction to the BSE problem, took over a 'reflexive' role with regard to the emerging risk communication on BSE in Germany.     

Social class,social networks and variety of weak and strong practices

Most research on the structural foundations of cultural consumption views tastes and practices as a better or worse emanation of social class or status. In contrast, this paper shows that cultural consumption is also embedded in a larger system of social networks. Not only does it examine whether having more diversified personal network translates into being involved in a wider range of cultural activities (omnivorousness), it also tests whether holding networks of different strength corresponds with different levels of cultural engagement (strong vs. weak). Based on the survey data collected in Poland in 2017, the analyses yield three main findings. First, cultural consumption continues to reflect social class divisions and is a potential mechanism for social exclusion. Second, network diversity is associated with cultural variety independently of class position. Third, the number of weak ties people hold is more strongly associated with the number of “weak” practices (that is practices of less frequency) and the number of strong ties is positively associated with the number of strong practices (voraciousness). These findings are discussed in terms of balance theory, interactional foci and weak versus strong culture. The implications of the article are that omnivorism both signifies class boundaries and indicates participation in different network structures.     

Social Exclusion in the European Union

Abstract

This article reviews the development of social policy in the European Union since the mid-1980s. It describes the origins and evolution of the concept of social exclusion, the dominant paradigm for social welfare policy-making in the European Union and its member states. Case examples from Great Britain and Wales provide indications of the impacts for direct services.     

Social class background and gender‐(a)typical choices of fields of study in higher education

By employing a Bourdieu‐inspired class scheme that differentiates between classes’ volume and composition of capital, and by analysing Norwegian administrative register data for birth cohorts between 1987 and 1992, this paper examines the relationship between social class background and gender‐(a)typical choices of higher education. Fields of study in higher education in much of the Western world remain segregated by gender despite the gender gap in educational attainment having been reversed. However, some changes have taken place due to the influx of women into male‐dominated, high‐status fields. Few recent studies have examined the relationship between social class background and gendered educational choices in light of these changes; furthermore, the focus of previous research has been limited to the vertical dimension of class. The results presented in this article suggest that men and women are more likely to make gender‐atypical choices when this leads to social mobility and that focusing solely on the vertical dimension of class may mask horizontal differences.     

Putting Bourdieu to work for class analysis: reflections on some recent contributions

Recent developments in class analysis, particularly associated with so‐called ‘cultural class analysis’; have seen the works of Pierre Bourdieu take centre stage. Apart from the general influence of ‘habitus’ and ‘cultural capital’, some scholars have tried to reconstruct class analysis with concepts drawn from Bourdieu. This involves a theoretical reorientation, away from the conventional concerns of class analysis with property and market relations, towards an emphasis on the multiple forms of capital. Despite the significant potential of these developments, such a reorientation dismisses or neglects the relations of power and domination founded in the economic institutions of capitalism as a crucial element of what class is. Through a critique of some recent attempts by British authors to develop a ‘Bourdieusian’ class theory, the paper reasserts the centrality of the relations of power and domination that used to be the domain of class analysis. The paper suggests some elements central to a reworked class analysis that benefits from the power of Bourdieu's ideas while retaining a perspective on the fundamentals of class relations in capitalism.     

Social class,occupational status,occupational self-direction,and job income: A cross-national examination

This paper evaluates the relationships of social class position, occupational status, and occupational self-direction to job income in three modern industrial societies, the United States, Japan, and Poland. In doing so, it goes beyond Wright and Perrone's analysis of 1977, which sought to establish the importance of social class by comparing the relative power with which occupational status and social class, defined in terms of relationship to the means of production, predict income. In carrying out analyses, we have also had to face the basic sociological issue of the nature and measurement of occupational status and have adopted a confirmatory factor analytic approach to the problem. Our substantive findings show that social class position has its strongest effect on income in Poland, and occupational self-direction also has an uniquely strong effect there. The singular importance of occupational status in Japan is noted and contrasted with the United States, where occupational status, social class, and education all have significant independent effects on job income.     

The Mechanisms of Social Exclusion in Modern Society: The Dilemma of Active Labor Market Policy*

In this article, I examine the social exclusion approach that has influenced social policy in Europe, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in explaining the emergence of new forms of inequality in modern society. First, I consider recent studies of social exclusion to show two important points: the paradigm shift from poverty to social exclusion and the introduction of a new policy framework of social inclusion. At the same time, I examine the inherent dilemma of social exclusion in response to radical critics of the social exclusion approach. Next, I point out an internal dilemma in the active labor market policies prioritized today by European Union member states. This dilemma is that these policies make the unemployed more vulnerable by forcing them into paid work. I then show how the enhancement of social networks in local communities and the provision of assistance to support cultural identity can serve as a buffer to compensate for the destructive influence of the economic dimension of social inclusion. In addition, I point out that citizenship as rights claiming is indispensable to social inclusion for all. Finally, drawing on the analysis outlined above, I conclude that a multi-tiered mechanism of social inclusion can reasonably be considered the most effective framework in a precarious society where people bear various risks in the era of globalization.     

Social capital and the reproduction of economic inequality in polarized societies

This paper explores the idea that the distribution of wealth across social groups fundamentally affects the evolution of economic inequality. By providing microfoundations suitable for this exploration, this paper hopes to enhance our understanding of when social forces contribute to the reproduction of economic inequality. In tackling this issue, this paper offers contributions in two domains. First, it models social capital as a real capital asset with direct use and collateral values. Second, it extends the concepts of identity, alienation and polarization originally advanced by Esteban and Ray (Esteban, J.M. and Ray, D.: On the measurement of polarization, Econometrica 62(4) (1994), 819–851). This generalization permits us to consider the multiple characteristics that shape social identity, inclusion and exclusion. It also underwrites a higher-order measure of socio-economic polarization that permits us to explore the hypothesis that economic inequality is most pernicious and persistent when it is socially embedded. Holding constant the initial levels of economic polarization and wealth inequality, we show that higher socio-economic polarization increases subsequent income and wealth inequality. Far from being a distributionally neutral panacea for missing markets, social capital in this model may itself generate exclusion and deepen existing economic cleavages.     

Mind the gap: financial London and the regional class pay gap

The hidden barriers, or ‘gender pay gap’, preventing women from earning equivalent incomes to men is well documented. Yet recent research has uncovered that, in Britain, there is also a comparable class‐origin pay gap in higher professional and managerial occupations. So far this analysis has only been conducted at the national level and it is not known whether there are regional differences within the UK. This paper uses pooled data from the 2014 and 2015 Labour Force Survey (N = 7,534) to stage a more spatially sensitive analysis that examines regional variation in the class pay gap. We find that this ‘class ceiling’ is not evenly spatially distributed. Instead it is particularly marked in Central London, where those in high‐status occupations who are from working‐class backgrounds earn, on average, £10,660 less per year than those whose parents were in higher professional and managerial employment. Finally, we inspect the Capital further to reveal that the class pay gap is largest within Central London's banking and finance sector. Challenging policy conceptions of London as the ‘engine room’ of social mobility, these findings suggest that class disadvantage within high‐status occupations is particularly acute in the Capital. The findings also underline the value of investigating regional differences in social mobility, and demonstrate how such analysis can unravel important and previously unrecognized spatial dimensions of class inequality.     

A latent class analysis of young adult gamblers from the Manitoba Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults

Informed by the Pathways Model, the current study utilized latent class analysis (LCA) to empirically derive subtypes of gamblers based on measures of impulsivity, anxiety, depression, drug use and alcohol dependence. The sample in this study (N = 566) was comprised of young adult gamblers (18–22 years of age) who participated in the Manitoba Longitudinal Survey of Young Adults (MLSYA). Multinomial regression was utilized to examine how demographic variables and participant scores on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) predicted membership in gambler classes from the LCA. Results of the LCA revealed three classes of gamblers: emotionally vulnerable, non-problem and impulsive. Multinomial regression showed that older age (i.e. 20–22 years of age), lower income (< $20,000 per year), living independently and PGSI scores were associated with increased odds of being classified as an impulsive gambler. Identifying as European, living independently and PGSI scores were associated with increased odds of being grouped in the emotionally vulnerable class of gambler. These results suggest that young adult gamblers are not a homogeneous group but instead are best understood as falling into different subtypes based on shared characteristics outlined in the Pathways Model.     

Homeownership and Volunteering: An Alternative Approach to Studying Social Inequality and Civic Engagement1

Previous research on volunteering finds significant differences by race and social class. We augment these findings by examining a largely ignored measure of social class: tenure status, the distinction between renters and homeowners. We test a theory that predicts people volunteer more if they have a “stake” in their community and we use the value of their home as a measure of the size of this stake, with renters having no stake at all, using data from the 2003 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We find that although homeowners volunteer more than renters, the value of their home has no influence on their volunteer work. Length of residence in the neighborhood has a positive effect on volunteerism. Tenure status partially mediates the influence of race and family income on volunteering but not education.